Meet Trump’s Cabinet-in-waiting
President-elect Donald Trump does not have the traditional cadre of Washington insiders and donors to build out his Cabinet, but his transition team has spent the past several months quietly building a short list of industry titans and conservative activists who could comprise one of the more eclect…
The Guardian view on air pollution: ministers must act
On Sunday, the capital city of one of the world’s fastest growing economies was effectively shut down in an emergency act. The reason was not terrorism, but air pollution. The threat to citizens from smog in Delhi was judged so great that traffic was ratioined, coal-fired power stations cl…
Prosperity in sustainability
President John F. Kennedy inspired Americans to great undertakings by setting bold goals: to go the moon, to overcome racial discrimination, to make peace with the Soviet Union. “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man o…
Is A Pan-Asian Power Grid Possible?
After a series of massive investments into the power industry, China is now looking for ways of exporting excess electricity. This past March, the Interconnection Development & Cooperation Organization was established with the goal of creating the means to transport power across Asia. …
Diversification or specialization: What is the path to growth and development?
In general, international trade theories predict that once countries open up to trade outside their borders they will specialize in goods for which they have comparative advantage. Early theories of trade explained comparative advantage being driven by relative productivity difference (as expla…
Is North Korea’s nuclear tech for sale?
As North Korea’s economic position worsens, the risk that it sells its nuclear weapons technology grows. Pyongyang conducted its fifth nuclear test on 9 September, accompanied by claims it has developed a warhead that can be mounted onto rockets. This test is estimated to have been at a yield o…
Knowledge Is Power: The Future of Energy
Matthew Boulton, of the 18th-century engineering firm Boulton & Watt, once boasted of his company’s steam engines, “I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have: power.” He and James Watt had demonstrated the ultimate meaning of Francis Bacon’s famous dictum “Knowledge is power.” Watt’s …
‘Everyone Needs to Act’: What Experts Expect From the Summit
When representatives of 200 nations meet at a crucial two-week climate change conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Monday, their goal will be to put some force behind the pledges they made a year ago in Paris to reduce the emissions responsible for global warming. But as anyone following the is…
Three powers will shape future state of world
Intensifying competition among the world’s major powers raises the issue of political leadership to a new level. The obvious lack of strong leadership in the European Union has not only led it to crises, but has also disqualified the EU from being a global strategic actor. The three major powers of …
Academics Write Rubbish Nobody Reads
Professors usually spend about three to six months (sometimes longer) researching and writing a 25-page article to submit an article to an academic journal. And most experience a twinge of excitement when, months later, they open a letter informing them that their article has been accepted for publi…